Posts Tagged ‘1930 – 31 Ford Roadster body’

If you are intending to build a 1928 to 1931 Model A Ford hot rod or even a vintage reproduction car, I would suggest that you check out the products Brookville Roadster has to offer. You can check out their web site at: http://brookvilleroadster.com/ . Brookville Roadster has several steel Model A Ford bodies available.

1928 – 29 Model A Ford Roadster body (this is what I am using in my project)

1928 – 29 Model A Ford Roadster pick-up body

1930 – 31 Model A Ford Roadster body

1930 – 31 Model A Ford Roadster pick-up body

1929 – 31 Model A Ford pick-up beds.

They also have a steel 1932 Ford Roadster and 1932 Ford 3 window coupe bodies. I have seen these at the Detroit Autorama and they are very nice.

Once you start working with a new re-production steel body, you start to wonder why you would even consider purchasing an original vintage body that is rusted out with parts missing complete with complementary bullet holes. Sure you might find a deal and a body that is great, but those deals are getting hard to find. To consider cutting up a perfectly good vintage vehicle and turn it into a hot rod just is not right in so many ways. For example, today, you can purchase a 1928 – 29 Model A Ford roadster body from Brookville Roadsters for $6500. Block sand it and you are ready to go.

I suppose you could find cheaper fibre glass bodies but that is risky. I have seen many cheap fibre glass bodies and some as much as what Brookville Roadster would charge. Why is buying a fibre glass body risky? Some manufactures of fibre glass bodies have different standards or you might say they very poor quality control in the product. For example, a simple thing like adding too much harder or catalyst to the resin will cause the product to heat up to fast and loose its shape. If not enough harder or catalyst is used, the resin will not set up properly. I have even seen fibre glass bodies and fenders loose their shape after they have been taken off the moulds. Another problem would be with the laying of the fibre matt and how it is rolled out with the resin. If the matt is not rolled out properly and saturated with the resin there will be air pockets. This will make the body weak. Another big problem would have to do with the consistency in thickest of the body and parts. Quality fibre glass bodies do not have these problems, and most often will even have a metal sub-frame to support and add strength to the body

Personally, I would rather deal with a steel body for a hot rod. I have been considering building a line of cheap rat rods, and for those I would consider a low end fibre glass body. It can be easily rough up and the complete project would not cost too much. Now-a-days, folks are loosing the ability and interest in building things. A line of economical rat rods or hot rods, however you want to call them would give interested individuals an easy opportunity to get into the hobby. I will need to give this more thought. For now I will stay with the 1928 – 29 Ford Roadster and come up with version 2 of my C4 Corvette chassis for the hot rod.

I must say working with new steel for a hot rod project is fantastic. The 1929 Ford Roadster body built by Brookville Roadsters that I found had the doors, dash parts, and trunk lid missing. The roadster body was stored in a barn for several years and had all of the good part stolen. Having only paid $1200 for the body might have been a good deal. Now I needed to purchase the trunk lid, doors, and dash. These were not cheap parts. Not only that, they would have to be shipped to me. Luckily, Brookville Roadsters didn’t mind shipping everything to me in the mail.

Importing parts to Canada can be expensive if it is not done correctly. Many of the standard carriers, like UPS, FedEx, and etc… charge insane amounts of money for so called brokerage fees. This fee they claim is what it cost them to send the tax money to the Canadian Government. What a pile of crock!!! I find the post office just charges me only the taxes, and a tiny handling amount. So much cheaper then UPS or FedEx!! So up really up with the other carriers?

At the same time, I ordered the 1932 Ford radiator shell and grille insert, and all of the windshield parts. Once I received everything, I must say the excitement level soared for me. The project was starting to look like a real hot rod. My overall goal was to build a cheap hot rod, but at the same time have a reasonably polished look to it. So far everything is on track and my expectations in the project cost are bang on. NO OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES! This has not been an easy task to meet. Every single part on the wrecked 1986 Corvette Indy Pace car convertible was sold. Not one single item was thrown out. Not bad, re-cycling at its best. All of the un-needed Corvette parts went all over the world. I was very amazed at this process.